LOOK INSIDE: First phase of The Lofts at Inman Mill nears completion

Adam Orr Staff Writer AdamROrr

Tuesday

Feb 12, 2019 at 6:27 PMFeb 12, 2019 at 6:27 PM

Some 18 years after closing in 2001, life has returned to a former Inman textile mill.

After more than two years of work and about $30 million in investment, the new Lofts at Inman Mill at 240 Fourth St. are nearing completion, according to project architect and developer Dyke Nelson of Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based DNA Workshop.

Leasing began three weeks ago, according to Property Manager Allyson Stovall, and the Mill's first residents will begin moving into the property March 1. That'll be followed by a grand opening March 13.

First announced in 2016, the project aims to turn a towering mill first built in 1902 by James A. Chapman into 159 apartments spread over four floors.

"We've developed 170,000 square feet as part of phase one," Nelson said. "That's out of roughly 350,000 square feet spread over the entire property. The success of this first phase will dictate how fast we get started on follow-on phases."

Stovall said the lofts feature 11 separate floor plans, including one-, two- and three-bedroom layouts, and she said no two are exactly the same. Many feature 14-foot ceilings, exposed original woodwork, brick walls, concrete floors and massive 10-foot metal framed windows.

"This was once the hub of everything here, and people remind us of that all the time," Stovall said. "We've got people whose family used to work here, or they used to work here that drop by. There's a lot of curiosity about what's happening, and people with memories they just have to share."

Amenities include a swimming pool, exercise facility and on-site access to a fully furnished community room. Future plans include a possible retail space or restaurants, Nelson said.

The idea of redeveloping the property dates back at least 15 years, Nelson said, but the onset of recession in the latter years of the last decade made it unfeasible.

"Five years ago we started to take a look at it," Nelson said. "And we realized if we could leverage federal and state historic tax credits like we were doing in other parts of the country, this could work. Once we layered all these things together, we realized it was viable."

Stovall bills the apartments as a more affordable option than similar nearby mill renovation projects that feature more space and better access than competitors. It's a concept Nelson said he endorses.

"Because of the size, depth and design of these buildings, the results have been great," Nelson said. "The end product is something that's huge compared to other nearby apartments, and people are paying market rates for this."

The project was supposed to be completed months sooner, Lofts at Inman Mill Maintenance Supervisor Vincent Hager said, but heavy rains in the effort's earliest days put it behind schedule. The sheer size of the project also posed its own issues, and workers had to deal with the aftermath of a fire that damaged the mill property in 2008.

Still, he said the finished product was able to maintain much of the old mill's look and feel. Many of its exposed wooden floors are marred and scuffed from generations of Inman residents who made their living within its walls.

Small pieces of metal that fell from spools of fabric are still visible underfoot, the result of years of heavy back-and-forth hand cart traffic that embedded the metal in the mill's wooden floors. Hager said he even brought the mill's dilapidated staircases back to form with painstaking care.

"One of the best stories we hear is that the brick stack was the last one built in 1902 by a local bricklayer," Hager said. "It was the last thing he did in his career, and he sealed his tools up inside it as he finished. And he did a heck of a job, by the looks of it. It's not falling in, it's still solid."

Stovall said the property represents a unique way to get the most out of a slice of Inman's history. She said two of her most recent renters have deep ties to the mill.

"They're sisters, and they're both retired," Stovall said. "But the thing is, their dad used to work in the mill. They can still remember dropping by with him on the weekends to rewind some big clock inside it. Now, they're going to live here as neighbors."

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